In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

I listened to Rush for a short time in the car and he hit on something about Healthcare. He said that people are tired of everything and they want things done…there will come a point when people start asking “where is PTrump the great negotiator?” WE need this done now so we can move onto other things but the Repubs are putting the cabosh on all of it to slow Trump and what is coming!

Really no way to negotiate when you have a Paul and Collins in same party..,The fact so many of these people lied when they ran is not negotiable…I’m fine with chipping away at things, but President Trump and our views are nowhere near a majority….

At the very least the Cruz amendment is a start…To complain about things that aren’t changing is pointless though and I’m fine with something…The President submitted a dream budget of cuts and slower growth in government and it is going nowhere…Uniparty is real…

psadie it is coming! The left, Democrats, Barry from Hawaii and others are literally having convulsions because they lost their major talking point that all Republicans care about is the rich when the Republicans decided to leave the tax on the wealthy that will generate nearly $272 billion dollars in 10 years. That money will be used to offset those in the high risk pool once the Cruz amendment is enacted. They are now singing a different tune and after tomorrow (god-willing the CBO score is out), they will be TOTALLY dead because another talking point will go by the waste-side.

Word must be leaking out that the Cruz amendment is going to KILL their talking point. The 3rd paragraph below shows their fears!

Progressive groups kicked their resistance to the Republican health care plan into “hyperdrive” Monday, saying a decision to delay votes until Sen. John McCain of Arizona recovers from surgery offers a golden opportunity to try and kill the bill.

The delay should also give the Congressional Budget Office more time to score a pivotal plan by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas that would let insurers offer plans that do not comply with Obamacare’s coverage requirements.

While a good score could bring Republicans on board, insurers have blasted the plan as “simply unworkable” and moderates fear it would violate their pledge to safeguard people with preexisting conditions, since they would have to bank on there being enough federal money to blunt their rising costs under the Cruz plan.

The Republicans are doing the smart thing.
They are obeying their paymasters.
They are ignoring the people.
They are cooperating with the other half of the their UniParty.
They are lying at which they are expert.
They are trying to cut side deals for themselves.
They are blaming Trump.
They are counting heads and know they are winning.
They are betting the public won’t vote against them next year.

If we want to do more than just complain, we have to start going to Republican meetings and finding people to run for office against the Republicans who are refusing to vote with the administration. People are frustrated, but voting out Republicans when we have two parties and Democrats are now communists doesn’t help us. The historical record also shows that Republicans who are just as bad run for office when we vote out the establishment candidates, and junior Democrats in time are senior Democrats or presidential candidates because senators use their time in the Senate as a starting point for presidential campaigns.

I’m not a fan of Sabato. However, he said when you dig into that poll data (36% approval) you find that if you look at registered voters Trump’s approval is in low forties, and if you look at likely voters it goes higher to about where he was when he got elected. He says not bad considering constant negative press (Russia). Also thinks lower numbers are because his main agenda hasn’t been passed yet.

All in all, a more positive interview than negative considering it is Sabato.

I know it is cool to talk about getting rid of the RINOs. But as usual American will cut off their nose to spite their faces and show how dumb they can be at times. Unless you have a bonified replacement for the RINO, then you choice is to reelect him/her or let the Democrats have the Senate. This newbee better have a lot going for him/her or else the fat war chest of the incumbent will bury them. Stop talking in wishes and emotions and start talking facts and WORK to get it done.

Don’t understand your comment. “WORK to get it done” – – Work with whom? The Republicans have the numbers and can pass whatever they want. Key word – want. They don’t want to pass Obamacare Repeal & Replace. We were supposed to have President Hillary so that they could hide behind their show votes to Repeal & Replace for another 8 years because she would have the Veto power. Continue to keep electing the same people and wonder why you never get anywhere . . . . that is what is dumb.

Thought we did that. R congress, Trump whitehouse and a new Supreme. It’s on Trump now. I believed Trump would call them out one by one for their scum behaviors and that was going to help drain the swamp. I still believe he will do some of that. If we don’t see our leader identifying the culprits, it will be very hard to get some to the polls in 2018. May be foolish, but understandable.

I 100% believe that Democrats want us dead and that Democrats are still strong. Let’s not give them opportunities to get back the narrative and tell the public the administration is a failure. The narrative would be the administration has failed and that Americans want Democrats to win the White House in 2020. It is also delivering the administration into the hands of people who care about nothing but power and silencing us. I believe the situation were Democrats to get back in power is dire, and we are done as a nation if Democrats win.

I am not disagreeing with any of your points, camulla. I just believe POTUS has the bat for 2018. Local levels will only be a compliment. IMO, locals cannot possibly get someone like nehlen elected without POTUS giving Ryan a TKO and RNC withdrawing support. 2018 is all POTUS. History will bear that out.

I think OldSchool is right. It’s clear the Repubs are purposely slow rolling POTUS’ (our) agenda. All the noise we are making they don’t care (and their are many of making lots of noise.). We have Trump’s back, but I think he needs to use his leverage and get these toadies in line. They aren’t acting like they think he is in charge.

On a side note, why at this point are there ANY Obama holdovers left in the administration? Having no one in place to do those jobs would be better than having people in place actively working against doing anything or changing rules (the State department changes to the immigration freeze also includes in-laws… so we have to take entire tribes of refugees who hate us?

I’m not a Democrat, Republican or an Independent! I, personally don’t believe in categories, stereotypes or any of that other garbage. I would rather have information about that person and his/her voting records, as well as any other information I could get.

Sunnydaze — you obviously misread my post, as I think one other did. My point in “work for it” is that the Democrats are hard at work to regain power while Conservatives are too busy behind their computers complaining/discussing to get off their duff and WORK to get good candidates to replace the RINOs, which is what I said above. Yes there are some who do work in their areas, but apparently not enough are doing so. WHY?

It didn’t appear that Trump, wearing a campaign “Make America Great Again” hat and who also attended Saturday’s tournament, saw the protesters, apparently part of the Ultra Violet group, who arrived with tickets.

A few Trump supporters in the crowd made comments like, “Look at what they look like,” and to media following the four, “Is the Clinton News Network here?” a reference to CNN.

Below are the three White House press pool reports on the Trump visit:

Now these senator found a reason to delay all the votes – John M. Why not bring him in the medical van for a vote for 5 mins and then take him back? I am pretty sure he will be ready to come and vote first if there is an impeachment vote.

One of the Company’s in attendance is the one who makes the T-Shirts for the Military. They are based right here in the town where I live in KY. They also sell to the public. Most comments say they are long lasting years after some get out of the military. Congratulations to them for being honored at the White House.

“… will feature Pennsylvania Senate candidate Bobby Lawrence, Maxine Waters’ California congressional opponent Omar Navarro, Joe Manchin’s West Virginia challenger and coal miner Bo Copley, and Elizabeth Warren’s “Real Indian” opponent V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai from Massachusetts. Kelli Ward — who primaried John McCain last year and is now running against NeverTrump Senator Jeff Flake in Arizona — is also in talks to appear. Other candidates are expected to sign on as we get closer to the rally.

The rally organizer is also meeting with Michigan Senate hopeful Kid Rock in several days.”

“In addition to President Trump being the first American president to begin renegotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement like NAFTA, for the first time USTR has included deficit reduction as a specific objective for the NAFTA negotiations. Since NAFTA was implemented in 1994, the U.S. bilateral goods trade balance with Mexico has gone from a $1.3 billion surplus to a $64 billion deficit in 2016. Market access issues have arisen in Canada with respect to dairy, wine, grain and other products — barriers that the current agreement is unequipped to address.

The negotiating objectives also include adding a digital economy chapter and incorporating and strengthening labor and environment obligations that are currently in NAFTA side agreements. Additionally, among other objectives, the Administration will work to eliminate unfair subsidies, market-distorting practices by state owned enterprises, and burdensome restrictions on intellectual property.

The negotiating objectives aim to apply the highest standards covering the broadest possible range of goods and services to ensure truly free and fair trade that supports higher-paying jobs and economic growth in the United States.”

Linked is a scathing article by Martin Armstrong entitled, “Jeff Zucker [CNN] and Jeff Bewkes [Time Warner] Should Stand Trial For Conspiring Against the United States For Corporate Profits – Enough is Enough!”

Armstrong presents evidence that Zucker and Bewkers have committed War Crimes per 18 U.S. Code Sect. 2441 and insider trading to manipulate their stock higher.

Excerpts below:

“CEO/Chairman of Time Warner Jeff Bewkes is well experienced in the field. There is no question that he has personally approved of how CNN is being run by Zucker and that clearly makes him a co-conspirator under federal law. Both men are recklessly putting the nation if not the entire world at risk of war all to make a quick buck.”

“Moreover, the Bewkes and Zucker are desperately trying to manipulate their stock higher with fake news and that is “Insider trading” on a monumental scale. The revelation of this new report by Project Veritas clearly shows the two are guilty of securities fraud. “Insider trading” refers generally to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the security. Insider trading violations may also include “tipping” such information, securities trading by the person “tipped,” and securities trading by those who misappropriate such information.”

“They have a fiduciary duty not to engage in fake news because they hold and create the image that they honor a relationship of trust with the people of the world. They can be charged criminally in Europe, USA, and Asia under securities laws. If the USA will not do it, Europe should charge them and demand extradition.”

IMO there is no one more qualified than Martin Armstrong to present this argument.

Just screamed aat Mcconnell office and told them to get a move on and pass a HealthCare bill and the rest of the Trump agenda. Also told them to stand up to the Dems and support the President and start to call the Dems on there Russia nonsense. Also asked are they going to hold up everything until McCain gets out of the hospital? They had no answer to that of course. Told them to get Mccain on Skype and have him vote. Told Mcconnel to get his GOP losers to work for President Trump.
Please call his office and make it known we want them to work for us and pass President Trumps agenda. 202-224-2541

You will never unseat McConnell. After he buried Bevan in the Primary and his Dem opponent in the 2014 election, he is too powerful to get unseated. I suspect McConnell will back Rand Paul in 2018 and he will remain in the Senate.

Also, Shep Smith showed the full audio of the WHPB, it seems, but did so without airing the opening monologue from Spicer. That’s bogus, and would seem to suggest the goal is to get the biased reporters on air without letting the WH get its own message out.

Rand Paul = Democrats best friend. His stubborn “purity” when it comes to repeal and unwillingness to accept a 70% solution will guarantee that Obamacare never gets repealed and morphs into complete single payer socialized healthcare. Rand Paul Care is what we should call it henceforth.

Smart move. I know plenty of families where the grandparents ARE the “parents”, being the primary caregivers of their grandchildren. Never understood why they weren’t being included in defining “close family” previously. It doesn’t mean they won’t be vetted, just not banned from applying for visas etc.

I have known people who had their elderly parents fom Germany live with them and they got benefits after becoming citizens. They also did not have to do the citizen test because of age.
This is going to cost us a bundle. I wish we would take better care of our own poor.

An emotional Elizabeth Beck joins Owen Shroyer to discuss recent revelations in the death of Peter Smith and Beranton Whisenant. The Beck’s need our thoughts and prayers, as they are bravely still pursuing justice in the DNC Fraud Lawsuit.

I found this on Facebook! Couldn’t figure out how to transfer the picture.
In the news today, President Trump told CBS NEWS that he had bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning. But our sources inside the White House told us he had HAM and eggs.

Congressional Democrats have asked that a special prosecutor be named and if it is discovered that Trump lied about his breakfast meat they will begin impeachment hearings.

17 Jul 2017 Lavrov slams US seizure of Moscow’s diplomatic assets as being ‘robbed in broad daylight’
“The Russian foreign minister hopes that “Russophobia in the [US] Congress will eventually wane.” “I am confident that there are men of sense in the Trump administration…”http://tass.com/politics/956601

Sorry, I cannot get the link from the WSJ, so here is the article. Had to get the article from Twitter. Here are some highlights with good points:

Republicans Aren’t Team Players
GOP Senators who defect from ObamaCare repeal will hurt themselves, their party and the country.

By
Fred Barnes
July 16, 2017 2:17 p.m. ET
Politics is a team sport, and Republicans are playing it poorly. They have one more chance in the Senate to repeal and replace ObamaCare—possibly their last hope for a victory.
Democrats are performing like a well-coached team. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has all 48 members of his caucus on board with saving ObamaCare at all cost. It’s been a successful strategy.

It works for one reason: Republicans are divided. Their 52-48 majority in the Senate means they can lose two votes and still prevail, since Vice President Mike Pence is the tiebreaker. After promising to get rid of ObamaCare for the past seven years, it shouldn’t be difficult.

This is an example of why legislative success depends on operating as a team. You don’t abandon your team just because you don’t get everything you want (or want left out). You hold your nose and vote for an imperfect measure, sometimes merely because it’s politically beneficial and better than the alternative. This is especially true in dumping ObamaCare. The Republican alternative is a more free-market health-care system in which people can buy the insurance they want, not what government requires.

Sticking with the team makes that possible. But too many Republicans aren’t comfortable as team players. To them, it’s shady and unprincipled to vote for something about which you have serious doubts. Democrats are more realistic and less persnickety, so they’re better at uniting.

The political consequences of failing to eliminate ObamaCare would be disastrous for Republicans next year. Midterm elections are always tough for the party that holds the White House. But reneging on the promise to “repeal and replace” would put Republican control of the House and even the Senate at risk. Worse, ObamaCare would be further entrenched with Republican help. If repeal fails, Mr. McConnell’s Plan B is to compromise with Democrats to stabilize the health insurance marketplace and keep ObamaCare alive and kicking. He would have no other choice.

When the voting begins, Republican senators need to ask themselves three questions: How would the result affect you? How would it affect your party? How would it affect the country?
On the first question, if any Republican senator sees voting to uphold ObamaCare as politically safer, think again. Trying to reach across the aisle to protect Medicaid’s rate of growth won’t win you any new Democratic votes. But if you desert the GOP, the base won’t forget or forgive. Republicans care passionately about ending ObamaCare. If you cross them on this vote, large numbers will cut you loose. There’s private polling on this, by the way.

If the Republican Party fumbles the Senate vote, it will suffer—and will deserve to. Having made the death of ObamaCare its overriding concern, a GOP that fails to deliver would shatter its credibility. An important element of the Republican brand is its identity as the conservative party. Fewer would see it that way if ObamaCare survives. GOP voter turnout would fall, and the party’s candidates would feel the difference.

What about the country? It wouldn’t benefit from making ObamaCare permanent. Health care would cost more and heal less. A political comeback by Democrats could lead to a single-payer system. Anyone who has experienced medical treatment at a Veterans Administration hospital would find the new system quite familiar.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky opposes the Senate bill because it leaves too much of ObamaCare in place. But the alternative is to leave all of it in place.
Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada feels the bill’s Medicaid reforms would hurt thousands of his state’s residents and jeopardize his re-election in 2018. But preserving ObamaCare would hurt millions nationwide and his prospects for winning a second term.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says the bill won’t “fix the flaws” in ObamaCare. But the alternative would lock those flaws in place, probably forever.
Messrs. Paul and Heller and Ms. Collins are playing politics as if it’s an individual sport, like golf, boxing or gymnastics. In the Senate, only a team can win.

Judicial Watch: New Abedin Emails Reveal Additional Instances of Clinton Donors Receiving Special Treatment from Clinton Department of State

Excerpt:
The documents are in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015, lawsuit filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)) for: “All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-‘state.gov’ email address.”

The Poltroon Party Gets a Reprieve on Obamacare Repeal
Senate Republicans clutch at another opportunity to do nothing.

“Mitch McConnell no doubt breathed a sigh of relief when John McCain’s surgery gave him an excuse to postpone a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Now that Senators Rand Paul and Susan Collins have made it abundantly clear that no concession or reasonable argument will persuade them to do the right thing on Obamacare, every remaining GOP Senator has to support BCRA in order to get the bill passed. And it was by no means certain that McConnell had enough votes to accomplish that even with McCain present. Why? The GOP has become the party of poltroons.”

“Moreover, the voters are crying out for relief and, if the gutlessness of the GOP prevents them from getting it, there will be a heavy price to pay. Americans will forgive a lot from our politicians, but we will not reward cowardice. If the Republicans arrive at November of 2018 having done nothing about Obamacare, the result will make them nostalgic for the “good old days of 2006 and 2008.” The GOP has majorities in both houses of Congress and a President with a pen in his hand. There are no excuses left. They must pass some version of BCRA or be written off by the voters as the Poltroon Party.”

WARNING: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is trying to claim Washington outsider status.
I caught her on the local news, something to do with a task force on Lyme disease, which is a good thing. What wasn’t so good was her statement about Washington not doing a thing unless the people make them do it, “and that’s us”.
Come again?
Isn’t she a sitting US Senator, and doesn’t that make her part of this “Washington” that doesn’t work for the people? Whose fault is that, Kirsten?
She’s a third generation political insider. Don’t let her fool you.